Wide

House lawmakers on Tuesday voted out the omnibus Republican-crafted energy bill by a wide margin for the second time in nearly seven months, sending it to the Senate in hopes of jump-starting action on the stalled bill in that chamber.

Capping off a wild week of trading that saw wide swings, the June natural gas futures contract finished the week at $6.353, down 4.8 cents from last Friday’s $6.401 close. The big news on Friday was the strength of natural gas, despite a crude futures sell-off.

In an initial ruling that has potential wide-ranging impact on San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and the state’s other major private-sector utilities, a California district appeals court Friday upheld the right of the California Public Utilities Commission to probe into the transfer of funds back and forth between utility holding companies and their utility subsidiaries.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is carrying out an industry-wide review of major natural gas storage owners and operators to determine if they may have over- or under-reported their storage withdrawal estimates to the federal government in late 2003 and early this year to such an extent that it influenced gas futures prices.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is carrying out an industry-wide review of major natural gas storage owners and operators to determine if they may have over- or under-reported their storage withdrawal estimates to the federal government in late 2003 and early this year to such an extent that it influenced gas futures prices.

The House of Representatives on Friday passed by a wide margin broad-based energy legislation, which one House Republican leader called “the most important energy bill in the last 50 years.” But a dispirited Democratic lawmaker said it was a Republican-crafted bill that was “jammed down the throats” of others in Congress.

The House of Representatives on Friday passed by a wide margin broad-based energy legislation, which one House Republican leader called “the most important energy bill in the last 50 years.” But a dispirited Democratic lawmaker said it was a Republican-crafted bill that was “jammed down the throats” of others in Congress.

In its first orders setting industry-wide precedents on pipeline creditworthiness standards, FERC on Wednesday appeared to take the middle ground by offering protections to both interstate natural gas pipelines and their shippers.

As part of a corporate-wide effort to sell “under-performing” assets and reduce overall debt, subsidiaries of Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp. last Friday completed a deal to sell oil and natural gas producing properties in southwestern Colorado for $26.15 million and separately acquire the remaining 50% interest in a gas processing plant in southwest Wyoming. Daily production from the sold Colorado properties is about 9 MMcf/d.